


Flowers for Ducky

by Suzanne_Ely



Category: NCIS
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-30
Updated: 2017-04-30
Packaged: 2018-10-12 21:17:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10499649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Suzanne_Ely/pseuds/Suzanne_Ely
Summary: While Gibbs and his team deal with a serial-killer, Ducky is faced with a mystery of his own. Someone is leaving flowers for him, everywhere. A secret admirer or someone who doesn’t have the medical examiner’s best interests at heart?





	1. Chapter 1

Doctor Donald “Ducky” Mallard never minded coming back to work at a late hour. As much as he enjoyed spending time at home, especially in his cosy living-room, he was always reachable and ready to drive back to the Navy Yard.

When the call came, he was in the middle of an inner debate, trying to figure out which book to read next. He fetched his coat and his hat and left, forgetting about his dilemma in the process.

Gibbs’ team had just made an important breakthrough in a gruesome murder case. They had found the remains of another victim of an alleged serial-killer, a captain who was suspected to have butchered his female C.O. There wasn’t enough evidence to tie him to the murder, but Gibbs’ guts had told him that there was more to this case that met the eye. A background check had showed that two women had disappeared during the captain’s past assignments. Both had been his C.O. at the time… Jethro had started to see a pattern and was now referring to the captain as a “sickening serial-killer”. He was counting on Ducky and Abby to find any clue or proof that would help putting the man behind bars for a very long time.

The forensic specialist was already there and Ducky parked his car next to hers, wondering if she had even left her laboratory to go home. She seemed to spend a lot of time in the basement lately… He walked towards NCIS headquarters, barely taking notice of how empty the premises were. By the time he had reached the building he had decided that he wasn’t going to disturb Jimmy Palmer and that he would conduct the autopsy alone.

The lift brought him to his domain and he entered in the dark autopsy room. He hung his hat and his coat before turning on the lights, a smile on his lips. He noticed two things. First, the body had been already brought to the autopsy room. A black bag carrying the body was on a gurney. Second, someone had left flowers on the autopsy table. The bunch of flowers was an incongruous sight in the blank environment and the doctor felt rather surprised. He suddenly worried that Gibbs might burst in and see it. Despite the fact that Ducky had no idea who had brought it, he didn’t wish the special agent to be upset by this obvious distraction. He hadn’t been in the best of moods because of his latest case; there was no need to aggravate it. The doctor quickly went to the table and checked for a card. Maybe it was a gift from Breena to Palmer? Valentine ’s Day was long past, but a loving wife might have wanted to surprise her equally loving husband. There was no card. No indication whatsoever to whom the bouquet was addressed to. Ducky grabbed it and went back to his desk where he safely put the unexpected gift.

His phone started to ring in the silent room and he startled, before taking the call. Abby’s face appeared on the screen.

“Ducky, you’re here!”

“Of course, my dear, where else should I be?”

The forensic specialist was eager to get some samples and he promised that he would do his best to provide her with them as soon as possible. She quickly dropped the topic however when she noticed the flowers.

“Wow, Ducky, is that a bouquet? Who is the lucky one to get them?” She asked cheerfully as he made a mental note to put the flowers somewhere else, preferably not by the phone, where his callers might see them.

He was briefly tempted to lie to the Goth, but decided against it and told her how he had found the bouquet when he had arrived. Truth was, he had suspected her to be the one who had brought the flowers as a token of her affection, but she wasn’t. In fact, she seemed as puzzled as he was and he felt suddenly uneasy about it.

“That’s weird,” she went on. “Why leave a bouquet with no note? It doesn’t make sense; unless you have a secret admirer!”

She started laughing and he smiled. Abby was always prompt to come up with a romantic story despite her love for black clothes and skulls.

“Who knows?” He said jokingly, before hanging up to get to work.

He rested his eyes a moment on the flowers.

“Who knows…” He whispered for himself.


	2. Chapter 2

He felt bone tired. He had worked all night, providing both Abby and Gibbs with the samples and details they were expecting. The murderer was the same in both cases. His victims had been killed in the same way, despite the years that separated both crimes. It was now up to Abby to find anything that could possibly tie both cases to the captain.

“Go get some rest,” had ordered Gibbs to Ducky.

The agent might be eager to put the culprit behind bars, but his team’s well-being came first. Ducky wasn’t getting any younger and he welcomed his friend’s order with relief.

“Try to sleep a little as well,” advised the medical examiner who only got a smile in return.

The agent had no intention of getting any rest. Not until he got all answers to his questions.

By the time Ducky had cleaned his workplace, it was already 5am. As he came out of the changing room, his eyes rested on the bunch of flowers. The forensic specialist hadn’t mentioned it, nor had her behaviour betrayed that she had left the flowers for him to find. He decided to take the flowers home just in case they weren’t intended for Palmer. Better apologise later than (try to) explain where the gift came from. 

Cars were starting to fill the parking lot as NCIS personal were coming to work. Luckily, none of his colleagues took notice of what the medical examiner was carrying, therefore avoiding any awkward question. He was just thinking how silly he was acting by trying to conceal the fact that he had received a gift when he reached his car. He frowned as he saw the windshield. Someone had tugged a white rose under the driver’s side wiper-blade.

Looking down at the bunch of flowers, he noticed that there were a few white roses there too. He looked around, trying to determine if someone was playing a trick on him. But there was no one about. He was alone. He contemplated going back inside NCIS headquarters and tell Gibbs about the flowers, but he rejected this idea as soon as it popped inside his mind. The agent had much pressing matters to take care of. Last thing he needed was a distraction and this was just what those anonymous gifts were: a distraction. 

Ducky gently removed the rose from the windshield and put it with the bunch of flowers on the passenger’s seat. He yawned and decided that he would get a few hours sleep first and then try to solve that little mystery.

He drove away, failing to notice a silhouette standing next to a tree. Dawn wasn’t fully set and it disappeared in the shadow of the nearby street. It was holding a white rose… 


	3. Chapter 3

Leroy Jethro Gibbs exited the elevator and frowned. Something wasn’t right. Abby’s music would usually greet him once he set foot outside the elevator, but the silence was deafening. Slightly worried, the NCIS agent went straight into the lab, his sharp eyes checking every piece of equipment, until they rested on the forensic scientist who was staring blankly at her screen. 

“Abby?” He called gently.

“Gibbs!” She exclaimed and turned around.

“What have you got?”

She pointed at the screen: “Hope. I got hope. A lot. I’m that close to nail the bastard. I have to because something else came up and I don’t like it.”

Gibbs knew Abby well enough to tell when she was worried and right now, the fact that she acted like a proper grown up was one of the signs.

“What came up?”

The forensic specialist bit her lower lip, obviously trying to decide what she should share with him. He remained silent, waiting for her to make up her mind.

“It’s Ducky,” she finally said.

“Ducky?”

“He’s been acting strange since he found those flowers in autopsy.”

The NCIS agent was the impatient type. He wanted facts brought to him in an orderly manner, so he stopped Abby who was still babbling about the bouquet and asked her to tell him precisely what had happened. That’s how he learned about the flowers Ducky had found when he had arrived in autopsy. 

“He has no idea where they come from and there was no note. I didn’t think much about it, but when he left, he didn’t come by to say goodnight and he always does. Always, always, always.”

“I get it, Abs.”

She didn’t seem to mind the interruption.

“So I decided to record the fact that he didn’t come by and I checked the cameras on the parking lot. That’s when I saw this...”

She expertly stroke a few keys on her keyboard and her screen came to life. He saw Ducky walking towards his car and then pick something on his windshield.

“See? Another flower!” Screamed the scientist. “Who would leave a flower on a windshield in the middle of the night?”

Gibbs refrained from pointing out that it was early morning already. 

“So, Ducky gets flowers. What about it?”

Abby faced him, her features very tense:

“I have a very bad feeling about this, Gibbs.”

She turned around and typed another command, checking another camera and another view of the parking lot. 

“That’s Ducky’s car. Now, look here.”

She was pointing at a silhouette partially hidden in the shadow of a tree. Abby zoomed in on it.

“He or she is holding the same flower Ducky found on his windshield. Someone is stalking him.”


End file.
